Doctor's Orders
by Audrey-Lee-Rae
Summary: Come along and read the many adventures of surly Nurse Arthur Kirkland and brilliantly heroic Doctor Alfred Jones as they make complete -albeit professional- fools of their screwy love lives. Hospital AU. Many other people are involved, but mainly USUK.
1. Take One

Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia. Proper thanks for this fic are given below.

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Every story has a beginning; a point where characters meet, and establish a base on which they build a relationship. In the case of the American born doctor Alfred F. Jones and the British native nurse Arthur Kirkland, the initial established base was wobbly to say the least. But any base, unstable or not, can be added to and mended quite easily. This story will be following both Doctor Jones and Nurse Kirkland, their lives, their friends, their trials, and their...blossoming relationship.

It had been two days, two whole days since the 'Partner System' was mandated for all hospital staff to follow. This new system was enacted mainly because the hospital had been put under pressure recently after one of their doctors suffered a work related panic attack. Thus the 'Partner system' was born. Each doctor-no matter the specialty-would have a nurse shadow them, this would effectively alleviate any stress or tension any of the doctors may have been put under. Alfred, being the newest, youngest, and brightest doctor on staff, had managed to snag a real gem of a partner. At least that's what Francis had told him. Nevertheless it had been two days now and Alfred still didn't even know what Nurse Kirkland even looked like.

She being his appointed 'Partner' should have found him already, but no, he was still waiting for this Nurse Kirkland to show her face. I mean, she wouldn't be expecting him to find her, would she? Of course not! He knew his time was too precious and far to valuable for such trivial matters as hunting down a silly nurse, and so should she.

"Hey, Lili?" He called to one of the receptionist clicking away at her keyboard, her face almost completely hidden behind the large computer monitor. She abruptly stopped typing, deleted a few lines, and looked up to meet the eyes of the young man.

"Yes Dr. Jones?" She asked in a voice as sweet as honey.

"Do you know where I can find nurse Kirkland right now? I guess I should introduce myself if we'll be working together."

He figited a bit, thinking there had to be something more important for him to do right now then look for an MIA nurse. Lili scribbled something down on a slip of paper, slid it to the other receptionist -a handsome Finnish boy named Tino- who took it and rolled his eyes. She gave a little smirk and pushed the pen back behind her ear.

"Nurse Kirkland ?" She asked aloud to herself, sensing that the young doctor was growing impatient she typed quickly into the computer. "Um, I could put a call out to come to the reception desk, if you wouldn't mind waiting a minute or so."

He moaned, completely displeased with this entire situation. "Can you at least find the room she's in, I just wanna get this over with." The tiny blonde woman looked a little dazed for a moment, as if she was trying to figure something out. '_She? Arthur Kirkland a she_?' Suddenly it hit her, like a ton of bricks, she tapped away on her keyboard and without looking up said "Room 125, but I-" She looked back at the young man but was met with an empty hall.

She inwardly sighed as a small smile graced her lips. "So, Tino..." Lili started, spinning her wheelie chair around to face the other receptionist.

"Yeah, yeah," he sighed pulling a twenty out of his wallet. "You may have won this round Lil.." She let a short peal of laughter escape her lips as she wondered what sort of trouble the young man would get himself into with the surly, and most defiantly male, nurse.

Alfred followed the proper signs and arrows, walking briskly through the white sterile halls of the hospital. He was beginning to get antsy, having nothing to occupy him besides the sound of his footsteps so he started to count the green tiles on the floor as he passed them. He was only up to tile 50 when his mind started to wander. It was an honest to God miracle he didn't collide with any of the people walking the opposite direction, with how far gone his mind was. He was thinking of his father, and the first thing his father told him when he found out he'd be working here. He had said "Son, just remember: Don't have sex with a nurse on a hospital bed. People die on those. It'd be kind of creepy." Ah, how Alfred loved his fathers ridiculously awkward advice, along with his little quips on how the world should work, and how politics should be run, and how toasters should come with a burnt toast protection plan -the last one came after he had bought a series of shitty toasters-.

Then Alfred was suddenly torn away from his father's words of wisdom and wondered himself,'_what if this nurse really is attractive? What if she's really nice, and funny? What if she thinks I'm wonderful and has just been too nervous to introduce herself?_' Admittedly that would be an awesome thing to happen to him, but things like that rarely, if ever, happen at all.

Besides he had always been a little iffy on the subject of sexuality, it was just, he'd never been in love, so how could he know what sex he'd eventually fall in love with. Saying he may consummate with a nurse was taking it a tad far, as most women turn out to be wild and spontaneous creatures, and there is no text book definition on how to handle them.

Anyway; snapping out of his trance he came to the room marked 125, it was like a sign from the heavens above that he stopped right there. He tapped ever so lightly on the faux wooden door. Bracing for the worst, and hoping for the best, he closed his eyes and stepped in the room.

He'd almost forgotten how nerve wracking it was to meet someone for the first time. So, as he sucked in a deep breath, eyes still screwed shut in anticipation he rambled out this gem of a speech.

"Hello I'm Doctor Jones, and I'd just like to say Miss, it is a personal pleasure to meet you, even though you silly nurses give me heap-loads of trouble sometimes I'm sure you'll help me out to the best of your ability. And I'd just like to say, no sexual favors are necessary to make me like you."

Ladies and gentlemen, Doctor Alfred F. Jones.

Now, Arthur Kirkland was a normal man, sure he had an odd job for a male -just never say that to his face- but in the end he put his shoes on one at a time just like every other man. When he came into work on this day, he, like another who came afterward, remarked to himself about how, '_His time was too precious and far to valuable for such trivial matters as hunting down a stupid American Doctor._' Partner system or not Arthur was no babysitter, and he sure as hell wasn't going to make the first move. Unfortunately, that left Alfred to do it; and he did. The last thing Arthur expected to happen at work today as he was putting on his white shoes, was to be accosted by a very handso-

very confu-

very idiotic, scatterbrained, git like Alfred.

Now it took Arthur a few seconds to process the situation. First a man, presumably doctor Jones, came into the room, eyes shut and mouth agape. He heard said man take in a huge breath, and then sputter out that miserable excuse for an introduction. There where a few parts in particular though that really left Arthur with nothing to say. The parts like 'Miss.'

And, 'help me to the best of your ability.'

Can't forget, 'no sexual favors are necessary to make me like you.'

And by the fiery pits of Hades his favorite,'_silly nurses'_.

The room started to fill with a cloud of awkwardness as Alfred stood up as straight as he could and opened his eyes cautiously to the deadly silent nurse. He did not expect to see what he saw. Like, at all.

A dude.

A dude in scrubs.

He chuckled softly, mentally reprimanding himself to look before he spoke next time. "I'm sorry," he broke the intense silence, getting a little wary as the other man shot him death glares. "I must have the wrong room doctor-" Alfred looked at the man's name tag that all staff were required to have pinned to their scrubs, and he froze. "Arthur Kirkland, Registered Nurse" he nearly choked out.

"Well look at that, not every day you get to be in the company of a male nurse." He laughed nervously as a sort of dark shadow seemed to pass over Arthur's face.

"I'm sorry," Arthur hissed through clenched teeth, tying very hard not to smack the ignorant fool right across the face. "But I think you may have been under the impression that I was a female based solely on my occupation." Arthur was surprised with himself, he was controlling his temper quite well. On the other side Alfred didn't really know what to say. Okay, so he had kind of pissed the guy off, that was understandable, but, come on? A male nurse? A British male nurse even? What where the odds. _'I guess I should've learned his first name_.' Alfred thought, mentally reprimanding himself once again.

There was a very awkward silence.

An extremely, over the top, two-dudes-staring-each-other-down-while-a-hospital-patient-snoozed-in-the-background, kind of awkward silence.

Then, defying all logic and reason that told him to keep his goddamned mouth shut unless he was to apologize, Alfred spoke.

"Well, most nurses are female, are they not?"

...

First impressions are hard to make, and impossible to erase once made. Unfortunately, Alfred's was just flushed down the toilet like yesterday's apple juice, but he'd eventually get over it, and Arthur would eventually forgive him.

Eventually.

But not today.

No. Instead, he got a prompt and loud smack right across his cheek as the now very sour faced Brit stormed out of the room, all too eager to continue his rounds. Alfred was left there dumbstruck, it wasn't the slap, nah he'd had worse before, or the fact that all of his semi-sexual daydreams that involved him and a hottie nurse just flew out the window. No, what left him dumbstruck and completely speechless was that there was this tiny part of him, an itty bitty miniscule part that wanted desperately to stay next to Arthur, though, this feeling was in fact so tiny and microscopic it was easily pushed back into the depths of Alfred's cluttered mind.

And the funny thing is, though Arthur would never dare to admit it...

The feeling was mutual.

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A/N: Shit, that was really short. Oh well. Hope you enjoyed the first chapter! If you have any questions on who will be playing what part in the hospital you can ask! I may not reveal much but still.. And You know, this _is_ based off of an ask blog so... if you'd _really_ like to see something or a certain pair I'll see what I can do.

A very big, huge, giant, largie large large large thank you to my editor and wifey~ Jenn

And an even bigger thank you to the two who came up with this AU and are allowing me to write about it! They run the Askdrjonesandnursekirkland blog and are putting up with all of my annoying questions about the AU. Thank you guys, so much~ (I didn't know if you wanted me to put your usernames here. Mwaa)

Next Chapter: Call Me in the Morning

See you then!


	2. Call Me in the Morning

A/N: Oh, I've been on Hiatus for a while haven't I?

I'm very sorry. I get stressed easy. UPDATES WON'T BE LIKE THIS ALL OF THE TIME. I promise.

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It had been 2 days 7 hours and 13 minutes since what most people in the hospital had dubbed 'The Slap Heard Round the World' occurred, but no one was keeping track like that, at least no sane person was. Neither of the two involved had put much stock into sanity anyway.

Not much passed between the pair as they went about daily hospital duties, it was a marvel neither of them killed anyone with the lack of communication going on. The patients themselves could make the very obvious connection that this particular duo did not get along, and many of them refrained from speaking of it out of sheer awkwardness and personal disinterest. That is, until a very outspoken and sarcastic young lady managed to sternly tell the two of them, "You both just need to fuck and get it over with." After she had observed their desperate game of eye tag, she figured someone needed to say it.

This was followed by numerous amounts of awkward throat clearings, and a new layer of tension added to the silence.

"I completely agree."

Alfred whipped his head around as Arthur rolled his eyes and went back to adjusting the patients IV.

"Doctor Bonnefoy what a surprise!" "I figured you'd just page one of us when this young lady's x-rays came back." Al managed with an exasperated sigh, wondering why the handsome French radiologist decided to pay them a personal visit.

"Ah yes, these." He waved a yellow envelope in the air and observed it like it was the first time he'd seen his hand holding it. "I'd completely forgotten."

"You completely forget to do a lot of things it seems." Arthur mumbled, the patient catching it and giggling.

"Ah Florence* is in a mood, no?" Francis chuckled.

Arthur turned every shade of red imaginable, and even a few new ones- it was quite a sight- and glared at the radiologist with a fire that Alfred knew all too well. He stole the x-ray scans out of the Frenchman's hand and staggered back a few steps.

"I swear. You call me Florence one more time; I'm castrating you with a bed pan." The venom was obvious in his tone, but it didn't seem to faze the Frenchman all that much.

"Would you prefer Nurse Nightingale?" Francis slyly set his eyes on the fuming Brit who was now clenching his fists and getting ready to throw the nearest object that wasn't nailed to the floor.

"No, I would prefer you shove your little nicknames up your puckered French-"  
"Hey, will you two shut up and come and look at these." Alfred's booming voice had brought them back to reality and the fact that there was an ailing patient in the room and a set of chest x-rays that needed to be looked at.

"Oui," Francis said quickly turning from the still very red Arthur. "I had seen some abnormalities on the left side, but I am unsure of what they could be." Arthur grunted in agreement, though he hated the thought of agreeing with the insufferable man, he too saw the shadowy spots.

"A shadow over the lingula of her left lung, I think we should call for a few more tests." Francis nodded and put a hand on Alfred's shoulder.

"You really are a very bright young man, it takes a skilled eye to see what needs to be seen on these x-rays, I should know." The man heaved a nostalgic chuckle and pulled the scans from the illuminated board.

"Thank you, that means a lot coming from a celebrated doctor like you." Alfred said in all sincerity. Arthur overheard this and had to stop himself from snorting too loud.

"Yes, celebrated in how many harassment charges he has against him."

"Ah, ignore Florence," He waved his hand dismissively towards the Brit, "must be her time of the month."

Alfred's eyes grew wide as Francis managed to slip out into the hall avoiding the large metallic bedpan that was flying in his direction. He chuckled nonchalantly as it clattered to the floor. Walking away he called to Alfred, not bothering to turn around, "There are a few people I'd like you to meet, drop by the break room around noon. Adieu~"

"I don't remember the hospital being turned into a public square." Arthur sneered towards the door as the patient rolled her eyes and cleared her throat. "This banter between the three of you was all well and good, but can we get on with what's wrong with me?"

Alfred awkwardly cleared his throat as he thought of a way to tell the young woman that they just didn't know yet. "I'm done here. Doctor Jones, I'll leave you to your patient."

Arthur brushed some invisible dust off the shoulder of his scrubs as he took his leave from the room not bothering to look back into the pleading eyes of the American. There were other patients that needed his attention.

"Well, I don't really know what to say Ms. Railey-"

His voice faded out as Arthur wandered further and further from the room. As he strode in his steady pace down the hall he passed a delightfully familiar face.

"Elizabeta! I haven't seen you around here in a while." The young woman, who was slipping a chart into the hanger on the door of the room she presumably just left, turned and greeted her friend with a warm smile.

"Arthur, how wonderful it is to see you!" She pulled him into a rib crushing embrace as he let out an involuntary moan.

"These shift changes are taking a toll on you too huh?" He said wiggling out of her embrace. She locked eyes with him, she had a habit of doing this, and her eyes seemed to just spell exhaustion.

"Ha, you know Arthur; I thought I hated the man before, but now. Don't even get me started." Arthur had to use all of his willpower not to crack a smile. This man she was talking about was in fact a surgeon, and one who had handpicked her, to be what he called his 'Personal Minion' when the partner system was first introduced. Everyone in the hospital knew these two had history, and a few people even claimed to have seen them fucking in the third floor utilities closet. But when he chose her, it just confirmed in everyone's mind what the already knew to be partially true. That Elizabeta Héderváry and Gilbert Beilschmidt are an item.

This would eventually come as news to her boyfriend, but that's a story for later.

Arthur and Elizabeta were friends. Close companions bound by a secret that only the two of them knew. But again, that's another story for later.

"I haven't seen him in a while; the life of a plastic surgeon must be draining a lot of his time." Arthur mused as Liz huffed; she crossed her arms and shrugged her shoulders.

"I really wouldn't know, considering I do all of the hard work. All he does is nip and tuck and then his job is over! I still have to look after the patients! It's a godsend that I have LPN's working under me." Her eyes wandered from the charts about breast cancer awareness on the wall, to the digital watch on her wrist.

"Oh shit. I have to go, I need to cover Mel's shift if I want Friday off." She bit a polished nail chipping the shiny yellow paint in her anxious state. It was obvious to Arthur that she needed to cover this shift, but she wanted to be somewhere completely different.

"Keep your chin up Liz! You're so much prettier when you smile." Arthur said, trying his best to be dashing and debonair, but Liz just graced him with a weak grin.

"Thanks, if I see the Frenchman I'll be sure to trip him for you." She sighed and spun around on her heel, walking in a graceful, yet speedy pace toward the nurses' desk.

Arthur muttered something inaudible under his breath and sauntered off in the opposite direction, making a mental note to try and be a bit smoother when trying to cheer someone up.

"That was really nice, what you said to her I mean, it was really nice of you." Alfred, who'd caught the end of Arthur's conversation, called out to him.

"D-doctor Jones, shouldn't you be with your patient explaining all of the alternate testing methods right now?" Shit, not right now.

Not him.

Really?

Arthur groaned inwardly, thinking that the American lummox would probably respond with something like "Taken care of Artie! I am the best of the best!" And then he'd probably obnoxiously wink at him. Christ.

But no, that's not what Alfred did. He sensed Arthur would put up with no bullshit, he read the situation before he acted -he was getting quite good at it- and he refrained from speaking.

That is, until he thought of something good to say.

"Come to lunch with me."

"Wha-"

"It'll be my treat, just come to the cafeteria with me. We have things to settle anyway."

Arthur was floored. Did Alfred really just ask that? It seemed impossible for him to answer for quite some time let alone think clearly. They did have things to discuss, very important matters of the workplace. After what had felt like an hour of anticipation Arthur responded.

"I assumed you'd be running off to go find Francis." His reply was steady and firm, and just to emphasize this he crossed his arms.

"Isn't it obvious I really don't want to talk to anyone other than you right now?"

Arthur's head swam, and Alfred regretted the words as soon as they had come, but in any case the truth was out, and they both had to deal with it like men. Arthur took a long look at the young doctor's face. How old was he? 23? He looked so much older than that now, his clear blue eyes shifting unsteadily across the room, and dark circles under his eyes to match the deep furrow in his brow which gave way to his unwitting anxiety. Even with the anxiety lines and the shifty eyes though, he had an innocent grace to him, an untouched beauty that Arthur was finding more and more intriguing as he gazed at the young man.

"Look I know I can be overbearing at times, just please let me make it up to you, let me properly apologize."

With this man, Arthur was sure, there would be no in-between. Might as well just suck it up and concede.

"Lunch on you it is then?"

The lines faded away as he heard this and where soon replaced by a joyful grin and sparkling eyes.

"You bet!"

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*Florence Nightingale was a famous female nurse. She was also British. I had too, I'm sorry OTL

Um, again I'm sorry about that leave of absence, I really had some problems for a while.(I still kinda do, but I'm working on it) A lot of people seem to be liking this story so far though! This makes me very glad, and if you put it on your alert/favorite lists you should so review and tell me why you like it or what you want me to work on or what you had for breakfast this morning! XD I'm sorry. I'll go now.


	3. An Apple A Day

I do not own Hetalia.

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**Chapter 3: An Apple A Day**

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Hey guys! I didn't really want to bother my editor with a surprise like this on such short notice so this is unedited. If you catch anything, or you see how crappy my use of commas is I'm sorry. The next one is going to my editor. I just wanted to get this out ASAP. Well, here ya go.

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Arthur rubbed his bleary eyes and took a moment to assess the situation; there was a loud pounding on his door, but he couldn't have company at this hour, and if it was someone he knew they would obviously know better than to wake him up before he needed to be up. 'I'm never getting back to sleep now.' He thought; pulling his body up into a sitting position he craned his neck to get a look at his clock. 3:44 Am. Another vicious assault on his door prompted a moan to escape his lips, 'it better not be that French bastard.' Francis had on more than one occasion shown up at Arthur's apartment completely drunk and unaware of where he was. But this wasn't Francis, he's a rather noisy drunk and he'd usually make a scene of himself out in the hall singing and carrying on.

Arthur slid out of bed and rubbed sleep from his eyes one final time. He stifled a yawn as he trudged to the door and just as he was about to open up his phone rang. "Oh hell." He mumbled. The person behind the door would just have to wait, as he turned back and scooped the phone off the coffee table.

"Yes?" He managed with a little bit of throat clearing.

"Oh," he said sending a worried glance at the door. "I – yes I'll be there as soon as I can."

He listened intently to the other end and started to look on with even more worry filling his eyes. "Oh dear. No, no I think I know where he is though." There was a long pause as he listened intently to the other end. "I understand, I'll be there soon."

Shit. This was the last thing he needed right now, and he could only assume as to who it was behind his apartment door. That being said, he was pretty worried. 'It'll definitely be Alfred standing in the doorway. He'll be standing right there with that goofy grin plastered on his face.' He told himself encouragingly, but if he wasn't…

No he didn't want to even think about that. He put his hand on the cold metal knob and turned. The door swung open to reveal no one, Arthur poked his head out and there, sitting against the wall right next to the door was Alfred. Clad in sooty Captain America pajamas with a leather case clutched tightly to his chest, he looked up with bleary tear worn eyes and smiled.

"Hey, buddy."

A lump formed in Arthur's throat, he didn't know if he'd be able to speak or not so he just motioned for Alfred to come in. He scanned Alfred's body for any signs of burns but luckily nothing seemed to be wrong with him. Relief washed over Arthur, he wanted so much to cry, but he couldn't with Alfred sitting there all in a daze.

"I would come in Artie, but I kinda-" Arthur knew something was wrong as Alfred started to slur his words, but he was a bit too slow on the uptake as Alfred slumped over unconscious.

"Shit."

* * *

16 hours earlier

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Arthur stole another glance at his watch as he tapped his fingers on the table in front of him; he heaved a heavy sigh. Why he had even agreed to have lunch with the moron?

He knew this was going to happen.

"Fifteen minutes late, that stupid ass." He mumbled under his breath, he didn't know why he waited this long, he should have left fourteen minutes ago.

"Artie! Hey! You're still here, great!" A bit of Arthur's frustration slid away when he saw the young doctors smiling face. Still tired, and still very much worn down the young man was still strong enough to smile so bright you could swear at any moment the sun would shine out of his ass.

"Yes, lucky for you I have a two hour break." He tried to say this with disdain but he just couldn't, it ended up sounding more like exasperation. Yes, this was his life now, the over worked and underpaid personal escort to a foolhardy, happy-go-lucky, and incredibly smart doctor.

"Ahh I'm sorry," Alfred scratched the back of his head embarrassed, "I was trying to find the break room, to see what Francis wanted before I came to meet you, but I really don't know my way around here yet and the security guard just sent me in the completely opposite direction. So I just wandered a bit until I found my way down here." He looked up at Arthur and met his eyes, "I really am sorry for making you wait."

Arthur turned a bit red and broke eye contact with the other, "it's no bother." He cleared his throat, "I mean what else was I going to be doing, saving lives?"

Alfred ignored the sarcasm and took the vacant seat across from him. He scooted closer to the table and leaned in a bit. "So I needed to talk with you."

"Yes." Arthur said nonchalantly, leaning back into his chair he let out a rather large yawn.

"Well I really wanted to say, ah, you know," Alfred thought for a moment and gave a light chuckle. "I really wanted to come here with you and apologize, but I'm not gonna do that."

Arthur narrowed his eyes, and opened his mouth to say something in return but was cut off.

"Yeah, I really don't think I have anything to apologize for, I just made a mistake, I'm human it'll happen. Everyone makes a fool of themselves sometimes." He shrugged, "If you really got offended by mistake I'm sorry but that's your problem." Alfred sat resting his head in his hand, he really wanted to apologize, but he started this new thing lately where he would think before he spoke, and when he gave it some thought he really couldn't see a reason he should grovel and beg for forgiveness. Yeah sure his actions may have been a tad insensitive but who doesn't act like a dick sometimes? Arthur would have nothing to be mad about right?

He sure hoped so.

It was only a minute of silence before Arthur spoke, "I understand, actually in retrospect the whole thing seems a bit silly, and I'm sure you've suffered enough of my foolish punishment of ignoring you. The past is past my good man, though I'm going to have to request you be a bit more observant in the future I'm glad to have this behind us." It was foolish to keep such a grudge, and even if Arthur did still have some hurt feelings over the debacle there was no use in staying mad at a man he'd have to work closely with for the foreseeable future.

Alfred smiled brightly closing his eyes in relief he let out a sigh. "Well now that we've got that settled, how about lunch?"

"I thought you'd never ask."

The two sat there swapping stories and information for the next hour like nothing bad had ever happened. Alfred was just extremely glad to have the whole mess in the past, and when he got to know him Arthur really found it hard to be annoyed with Alfred's happy nonchalant personality. It was honestly hard to find someone so sunny in the overall dreary hospital setting. He just hoped Alfred wouldn't change, he could remember others coming in with the same cheeriness and having that ripped away from them the moment they lost their first patient, though there were always exceptions to the rule. He guessed he'd just have to have faith in the fool.

The two talked and talked giving each other information left and right like for example Alfred loves cats, but his family has always only owned dogs. Or that Arthur lived across from one of his coworkers and they often went out for beers, 'You'll have to come with me and Liz one night!' He laughed, they were having a really good time, Arthur would never admit it but it was the happiest he's been in a long while. Just as the last hour of their break came to a close Alfred got a call.

"Yes you should definitely stop by sometime, it's a really worn down enormous building, you can't miss it." Alfred laughed, thinking about how basically everything in his apartment worked after you hit is a couple of times.

"Same to you Alfred. Company is always welcome." Arthur grinned thinking about how many times he's had to be 'that guy' and report his noisy neighbors to the tenant.

The atmosphere around them seemed to bubble up and envelop them so even when they went through periods of silence like they were currently experiencing it really didn't feel awkward. Things however did turn a bit strange when Alfred's phone blasted the Avengers theme music.

He turned a bit red and looked to see who it was, noticing the name he smiled and answered the phone.

"Hey Matt! Guess who I'm with right now?" He said jovially, but his smile quickly turned downcast as his brother spoke into the other end. "Yes. Go, go I'll get prepped."

He shut his phone and stole a glance at Arthur who was looking questioningly back at him. "There has been a pile up on I 77, it's going to be a busy afternoon." Just as he said this both of the men's pagers went off, with much composure they threw away all of their trash and made a calm trek into the soon to be craziness of the emergency room.

* * *

Hours passed and the seemingly never ending stream of people started to dwindle; only those who needed immediate care and attention were being examined and helped.

"Okay what's going on here?" Alfred sighed taking a long look at the third patient he'd seen in the past hour with terrifyingly harsh head trauma.

"We don't know what else to do, she's unresponsive although she is still breathing on her own she may need to be put on a ventilator. She was admitted with her son but he was unfortunately dead on arrival."

Alfred's shoulders tensed, "Does she have anybody here for her?" He asked as he checked the dilation of her eyes. He heard someone shout about another few people being taken in as he looked at what little space they had left.

"A husband, he's out in the waiting room."

"Alright, move her to a room upstairs," he said nodding to Arthur. "We need the space down here. Also when you get the chance, try and tell the husband. I can't imagine what he's feeling."

Arthur nodded taking in everything Alfred told him, some renovations were going on upstairs for the past week but he should be able to get her admitted into a room quickly. However just as Alfred moved onto another patient the woman Arthur was attending to took a turn for the worse.

"Doctor Jones!" Arthur yelled, as he focused his eyes on her vitals. Her blood pressure was dropping dangerously low and she was going into cardiac arrest. Alfred ran back and had Arthur read off her vitals.

"She's gone into cardiac arrest get me a defibrillator and get her started on a drip of amiodarone." Alfred stated hurriedly. The crash cart was rushed over as Alfred started to preform manual CPR on the woman. Arthur administered the amiodarone and looked back to the heart monitor feeling his heart drop. "She's flat lining Doctor Jones." He said tensely, anticipating orders to follow.

"Charging," Alfred said grabbing the yellow handles of the machine with a steady hand.

"Clear!" He yelled as the metal was brought down on the woman's chest.

* * *

"Mr. Fields?"

No one responded to the name, the waiting room was overrun with pale, despairing faces and a hanging air of anxiety. Alfred wiped his sweaty palms on his scrubs; dealing with people was difficult when what you had to tell them was bad news. He wished Arthur stuck around to help him with this, though it was past ten and most of the patients from today's emergency were either sent home, admitted, or had passed away. This was the last thing he had to do before he got to go home. Unfortunately it meant telling a man who had already lost his son today that his wife had too passed on.

"Mr. Fields?"

One haggard looking man with a wan withdrawn face stood up and approached the young doctor.

"I am Mr. Fields. Is this about my wife?" He looked completely drained and he spoke with a lackluster monotone. He had already braced himself for the worst, so that is what he expected to hear.

"I'm so sorry, your wife sustained major head trauma and went into cardiac arrest upon arrival." He tried to explain it as best he could while still expressing his sympathy. "We did everything we could to help her, but there are very few things you can do with a patient with as much trauma as she had experienced. I am truly sorry."

The man wore a severe dead-pan expression. "You have no reason to be sorry. You did your job, thank you for all of your effort." He looked at the young doctor for a few more seconds, his eyes glazing over as full despair hit him. He turned and walked back to his seat, with every step Al could see him sinking further into depression but he didn't know what to do. So he did nothing, he turned and left the waiting room walking back into the remnants of what was once a chaotic scene.

"How did he take it?" Alfred heard from behind.

"Hmm?" He said turning to see Doctor Bonnefoy standing there, like he'd been there the whole time. "Surprisingly well considering what he's been through."

Bonnefoy nodded "I was surprised you didn't get an earful, or even worse an icy glare, like what had happened was your fault." Francis mused. "I don't think he's that unfamiliar with untimely death by the way he acted."

Alfred didn't say anything, he just thought about the despair he felt from that man, he really had nothing to say about it, he just wanted to forget it ever happened. He lost a patient today, a human life was gone because of him.

Not liking the silence Francis leaned in and asked "Arthur wanted me to make sure you were okay. Is everything alright?"

Alfred nodded, still deep in thought and unable to form coherent sentences.

"Alright," Francis sighed feeling the young man didn't want to talk about it, "Oh and you never came to join me at noon! I was a little offended before I heard you were having lunch with Florence."

Alfred cracked a smile, "I didn't mean to stand you up, how about tomorrow?"

Francis chuckled, "It's alright, I hope I can get everyone together for noon tomorrow. It was hard enough getting them today…" He mumbled losing his train of thought.

"Well, I'll be there!" Alfred said his smile slowly coming back to him. There was no use in getting depressed; he was needed for a shift bright and early the next day. There were still sick people who needed his help; he had to put on his big boy scrubs and man up. So he pushed his sadness into the dark recesses of his mind and carried on.

* * *

He took the subway home on his regular route, getting off at his stop and making the three block walk to his crappy one bedroom catastrophe. He refused to call it anything but that.

He made the three flight trek to his room and heaved sigh as he pushed his door in to get to his tiny, smelly, and all around crappy sanctuary inside.

* * *

He woke with a start after only two hours of being asleep. At first he wasn't sure what had woken him but then he heard the shrill screech of the fire alarm.

He looked around his room rubbing his eyes that seemed to be in a foggy haze. He then realized that it wasn't his tired eyes causing the haze, it was smoke and it was quickly filling up his room. He jumped up and grabbed his phone off the nightstand and ran to the door to snatch up his briefcase he kept behind the trash bin. He quickly wrapped his hand in his sweatshirt hanging on the door and used the wrapped hand to turn the doorknob. As he swung the door open flames roared dangerously close to his face singing his pajamas and causing him to jump back a few steps. The hallway was a wall of fire and now it was slowly engulfing his room. He clutched his briefcase tightly to his chest as a coughing fit took over his body. He was inhaling too much smoke. He ran to the window to take a chance on the rusty and dangerous fire escape.

After carefully maneuvering his way down he saw some of his neighbors across the street just watching what was happening with shocked and dread filled looks on their faces. He decided to walk away from the scene. He'd seen too much fear and anxiety for one day and he just wanted to go somewhere he'd be safe. He thought about going to his brothers apartment but Matt was working late tonight and Alfred didn't have the means to get into his place. Then it hit him, he knew exactly where to go.

He was feeling dizzy and light-headed, and seeing as though passing out on the street was not an option, he decided to take Arthur's offer up on a visit. He thought back to the address Artie had given him earlier that same day and took relief in the fact that he wasn't that far from his destination. He trudged the seven blocks in his singed and sooty Captain America pajamas. He made the whole trip half dazed with people giving him questioning stares and some people even offering to help, though he politely refused any assistance.

When he finally reached his destination the last cognitive thought he could remember thinking was how much he wished Arthur would open his door at such an ungodly hour.

To his utter disappointment he spent five minutes pounding on the door he hoped was Arthur's with nothing to show for it. He sat down next to the door and coughed a bit more. He saw Arthur's face in the next instant he could remember and he was lying on a couch with Arthur still hovering above in the instant after that. He succumbed to one last coughing fit until he had finally blacked out.

* * *

A/N: The next chapter will be better I promise! I am also sorry for the horrid delay in production, I'm juggling a lot right now.

A big shout-out to Kitty, without whom this chapter would not have made it.


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